Learning lines, practicing music, rehearsing tech-- putting on a live show is never easy, and FCCMT did it all in just one week in December 2013! Es Una Vida Maravillosa, FCCMT's very first live radio drama, was performed live at the Monteverde Institute on December 28th and broadcast on the Monteverde Community Radio (www.monteverde.fm).

​Featuring a cast of eleven local actors of all ages from the Monteverde community, Es Una Vida Maravillosa (It’s A Wonderful Life) told the classic Christmas story of everyman George Bailey's wonderful life. "Only one member of the cast had seen the original movie," director Kathleen Tissot said. "So we watched the DVD with Spanish subtitles together. When it was over, they all just said, 'Wow. What an amazing story.'"

The show included live music, Christmas carols, clever sound effects and a heartwarming story that resonated with an audience tuning in from all over the world!

Although assembling a show from start to finish in just one week was a challenge, Tissot said that once the show was cast, things quickly came together. "We all had a lot of fun together," Tissot said, "and I was surprised by how easily everything fell into place."

Using an abridged, 45 minute version of the movie that was translated into Spanish, the cast rehearsed for 2 or 3 hours every day. "A lot of the actors played multiple characters-- so they had to use different voices for each one," Tissot said. "That was a lot of fun."

The story spoke to young and old alike, perhaps because, as Tissot put it, "the message is so universal: that one person's life can affect so many others."